SP clear winner in Uttar Pradesh
Congress fails to win any seat
Lucknow, October 16
The Samajwadi Party- Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance won seven of the 10 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. Two seats went in favour of archrival Bahujan Samaj Party, while BJP had to remain content with one.

Cong wins 13 seats in byelections
New Delhi, October 16
The Congress, which is on the verge of forming the next government in Maharashtra with its coalition partner NCP, put out an impressive performance in the byelections held in several states spread across the country.

Maharashtra defeat blow to Mahajan
Mumbai, October 16
The defeat of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the Maharashtra elections is the second consecutive blow to senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

SALAM MADAM: Congress President Sonia Gandhi being congratulated by party workers at her residence in New Delhi on Saturday after the Congress-NCP alliance won the Maharashtra Assembly elections on Saturday. — PTI
photo

to political world
Mumbai, October 16
Underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli tasted his first ever electoral success, winning the Chinchpokli seat in central Mumbai by a margin of 8000 votes today.

Cong wins Bidar byelection
Bangalore, October 16
Thumbing its nose at both arch rival the BJP and the Karnataka state coalition partner JD(S), the Congress won the Bidar Lok Sabha seat by 13,470 votes.

Pappu Yadav wins from Madhepura
Madhepura, October 16
Controversial former MP Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, today won the bypoll for the Madhepur parliamentary constituency by a huge margin of more than two lakh votes to raise the RJD’s tally in the Lok Sabha to 24.

Left Front retains WB seats
Kolkata, October 16
The Left Front has retained its three assembly seats in the byelections, defeating the Trinamool Congress and Congress candidates by heavy margins.

EC team in Mainpuri to probe rigging
Lucknow, October 16
A four-member high-level team of the Election Commission (EC) arrived in
Mainpuri Lok-Sabha constituency today to conduct a spot inquiry into complaints
of rigging and booth capturing during the October 13 byelections.

NSG plans another unit near IGI Airport
Manesar (Haryana),
October 16
National Security Guards (NSG), the premier crack-commando force, would soon set up another unit near the Indira Gandhi International
(IGI) airport in the capital to quickly react to operational missions even as it has no immediate plans to branch out across the country.

HP to have management varsity
New Delhi, October 16
Hyderabad based management institute, the ICFAI has announced its decision to set up a management university in Himachal Pradesh.

Tribune Special
NDFB leaders desert sinking ship
New Delhi, October 16
The return of senior National Democratic Front of Bodoland
(NDFB) leader Bijoy Boro to Guwahati in the last week of July 2004 is another body blow to the
NDFB, according to diplomatic sources here.

Don’t accept gifts: CVCNew Delhi, October 16The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has issued instructions to government employees not to accept gifts during festivals, including Divali.
The order was issued in September. The CVC had issued similar instructions last year ahead of the festival season.
TNS

No talks with extremists, says CM
Kolkata, October 16
While the police and the para-military forces jointly launched a massive combing operation in the extremists-infested Lalghar area, in west Midnapore, following the Friday's killing of EFR personnel there, the PWG and MCC today shifted their operation to the distance Jhargram forest by blowing up the Forest Ranger’s Office with landmines.

Lucknow, October 16
The Samajwadi Party- Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance won seven of the 10 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. Two seats went in favour of archrival Bahujan Samaj Party, while BJP had to remain content with one.

The Congress failed to open its account in the by elections to the 12 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat held on 13 October.

Speaking to the media, a jubilant Chief Minister Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, claimed that the results were a clear indication of support from the people to his party's developmental agenda.

Hitting out at the Congress, he said the party that had tried to make the so-called “law and order situation and dismal power scenario” election issues could not even retain the two seats of Ghaziabad and Iglas held by it.

The largest margin (50,641 votes) was at Mujehana in Gonda, a seat that the SP has wrested from the BJP. Here the SP had fielded Ms Nandita Shukla, widow of the BJP MLA Ghanshyam Shukla who had died in a freak accident during campaigning of the Lok Sabha elections in May.

Milkipur in Faizabad that was being seen as a close contest between the SP and the BSP, sprung a surprise when SP candidate Ramchandra Yadav defeated BSP candidate Anand Sen by a whopping margin of 35,000 votes.

For the SP the shock came in Allahabad West, a seat that it lost to BSP's Raju Pal. Accepting the party organisation's complacency as the cause of the defeat, the Chief Minister said: "Overconfidence cost us the Allahabad West seat".

Mr Mulayam Singh refused to comment on the Election Commission's decision to stay counting in the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency and Karchana Vidhan Sabha constituency following a large number of complaints regarding poll violence. Pointing out at a larger conspiracy against his party by the BSP-Congress-BJP combine, he said he would elaborate on it "separately on Sunday".

Commenting on BJP leader Kalyan Singh's daughter-in-law winning for the BJP the solitary seat in Atrauli in district Aligarh, he said: "Wahan to pahle hi haar maan li thi". When grilled if it was a "walkover", he retreated, saying the party had given a tough fight till the end.

Reacting to the dismal performance of the BJP, the "official" Opposition, senior party leader and former state chief Vinay Katiyar admitted that the BJP's base was rapidly eroding in the state.

"We could not even hold on to the votes we had managed in the Lok Sabha poll", he revealed.

New Delhi, October 16
The Congress, which is on the verge of forming the next government in Maharashtra with its coalition partner NCP, put out an impressive performance in the byelections held in several states spread across the country.

The Congress won 13 seats and wrested the Bidar Lok Sabha seat from the BJP, which bagged seven seats while the SP-RJD combine got eight seats from Uttar Pradesh.

While the Congress has increased its tally in the Lok Sabha to 146, the RJD with its victory in the Madhepura Lok Sabha seat, has increased its tally to 22 in the 543-member Lower House of Parliament.

The ruling Left Front made a clean sweep of all three seats in West Bengal.

The PDP won two seats in the Kashmir valley with state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed elected to the state Assembly after a gap of 17 years.

The Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats while the Nagaland People’s Front, the Uttarkhand Kranti Dal, the Majlis-ittihadul the Muslimeen and the TRS bagged one seat each.

Counting of ballots for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha and Karchchna Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradehs was stopped by the Election Commission following complaints of booth-capturing and rigging.

Mumbai, October 16
The defeat of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the Maharashtra elections is the second consecutive blow to senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

The BJP-led NDA government’s debacle in last May’s Lok Sabha elections was attributed to the hi-tech India Shining campaign said to be Mr Pramod Mahajan’s brainchild. Chastened by the experience, Mr Mahajan, the BJP’s General Secretary in charge of Maharashtra, hit the roads immediately afterwards in preparation for the Assembly poll.

According to sources here, Mr Mahajan had covered every Assembly constituency in the state twice networking with BJP activists and planning the party’s strategy for the poll. Mr Mahajan and to a lesser extent his brother-in-law and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde were in charge of selecting candididates and formulating the nitty-gritty of the election campaign.

Though sections of the BJP were opposed to Mr Mahajan and Mr Munde, they played along since the two leaders enjoyed the support of the party’s central leadership.

Observers here say, BJP leaders opposed to Mr Mahajan and Mr Munde will come out against the two with support from some of the party’s central leaders.

Mr Mahajan, along with party president Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Uma Bharati, Vasundhara Raje Scindia and to a lesser extent Narendra Modi, are seen as the BJP’s second rung leaders after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.

All are seen as contenders for the party’s leadership in the coming years.

Manesar (Haryana),
October 16
National Security Guards (NSG), the premier crack-commando force, would soon set up another unit near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in the capital to quickly react to operational missions even as it has no immediate plans to branch out across the country.

"We are planning to have in place another NSG unit near the IGI airport for quick reaction to operational missions... We already have one in place in the airport," NSG Director-General R.S. Mooshahary told The Tribune on the sidelines of NSG's 20th Raising Day celebrations here.

Mr Mooshahary, however, said the NSG had no plans to branch out across the country to further reduce the reaction time of the force to any operational missions.

"Immediately there is no plan to establish our bases in other parts of the country... There is no need for it now. Moreover, it will be very expensive and will lead to strain on our available sources," he said.

The NSG Chief said, the force had already devised strategies to meet various probable and possible operational missions across the country and had also calculated the time needed for its crack-commandos to reach major cities of the country.

Mr Mooshahary denied that the responsibility of VIP security was putting strain on its resources and men and could compromise its effectiveness as an interventionist quick reaction force.

"In fact we have accomplished all the operational missions with VIP security duty being an integral part of our responsibilities. We are prepared to play even larger role in ensuring the physical security of high risk VIPs," he said.

Mr Mooshahary said the introduction of 'Sky Marshals' in civilian aircraft has been a great success as no hijacking had taken place in the country after the December 1999, hijack of IC-814, to Kandhahar.

On an average there could be two to six 'Sky Marshals', drawn from the NSG's specially trained commandos, in any of the civilian aircraft, he added.

He said the NSG National Bomb Data Centre was the only one of its kind in the country.

Gawli, who fought on an Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABHS) ticket bagged 92,000 votes, defeating Madhu Chavan of Congress, in a contest which was widely believed to be tipped in his favour.

Terming his win as a “receipt of the social service” he had done for the people, Gawli said as an MLA, he will
concentrate on tackling issues like unemployment, homes for the slum-dwellers etc, and try to implement as many beneficiary schemes.

His prime concern will be to implement the Ambedkar-Valmiki housing scheme to provide houses to weaker sections, Gawli said.
— PTI

Bangalore, October 16
Thumbing its nose at both arch rival the BJP and the Karnataka state coalition partner JD(S), the Congress won the Bidar Lok Sabha seat by 13,470 votes.

Congress candidate Narasingha Rao Suryavanshi obtained 1,96,917 votes, while the BJP's Basavaraj Arya secured 1,83,447 votes. The JD(S) candidate, Babu Honnaik, was in the third place with 1,67,128 votes.

Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh said that the verdict of the byelection to the reserved constituency was a “historic verdict”. The BJP has held the seat since 1991, and the byelection had been occasioned by the death of its sitting MP Ramachandra Veerappa. Suryavanshi himself has been defeated here five times earlier.

The JD (S) had rejected the Congress suggestion that a combined candidate be fielded at Bidar to challenge the BJP. Both candidates, however, had refrained from crossing limits in criticising each other in the high-profile campaign. JD (S) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda had keenly pushed for a win here to strengthen his hand in the current coalition, as did the Congress itself.

There are eight Assembly constituencies in the Bidar Lok Sabha region, and in the 2004 Assembly elections, the BJP had won three, the JD (S) three and the Congress and an Independent picked up a seat each.

Madhepura, October 16
Controversial former MP Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, today won the bypoll for the Madhepur parliamentary constituency by a huge margin of more than two lakh votes to raise the RJD’s tally in the Lok Sabha to 24.

Pappu Yadav defeated his nearest JD-U rival
R.P. Yadav by a margin of 2,08,860 votes in the keenly watched contest.

While Pappu Yadav, who recently switched over to the RJD to contest the Lok Sabha byelection after parting company with the Lok Janshakti Party of Union Minister Ram Bilas Paswan, secured 3,65,948 votes, his rival former MP
R.P. Yadav pocketed 1,57,088 votes.

The rest seven candidates forfeited their deposit.

The RJD had won 24 seats — 22 in Bihar and two in Jharkhand — in the General Election. Railway Minister and RJD president Laloo Prasad, who had won from both Madhepura and
Chapra, decided to retain the later, necessitating the bypoll.

Pappu Yadav, who is lodged in the high-security Beur jail in Patna in connection with CPI-M MLA Ajit Sarkar murder case, had lost the last Lok Sabha poll from Purnea to the BJP on an LJP ticket.

Kolkata, October 16
The Left Front has retained its three assembly seats in the byelections, defeating the Trinamool Congress and Congress candidates by heavy margins.

The elections were held on October 9 but the results were announced today along with the Maharashtra results.

These seats had fallen vacant in Entally, Jorabagan and Shyampukur following the winning of the incumbents, Mr Mohammad Salim, Mr Sudhangshu Sil, both of the CMP, and Mr Subrata Bose (FB) in the last Lok Sabha elections.

The candidates who won the byelections are Mr Mohammad Abu Sufium and Mr Parimal Biswas, both of the CPM, and Mr Jiban Kumar Saha of the FB.

The Trinamool Congress, which had a strong base in the constituencies only a year ago, was virtually routed in the byelections, while the Congress did relatively better. However, the margin of victory of the Left Front candidates in all seats was high.

Lucknow, October 16
A four-member high-level team of the Election Commission (EC) arrived in Mainpuri Lok-Sabha constituency today to conduct a spot inquiry into complaints of rigging and booth capturing during the October 13 byelections.

State Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Sharma here said the team comprising Secretaries Tapas Kumar and K F Wilfred and Under-Secretaries Y Standhope and N N Butolia would start its inquiry at the Collectorate tomorrow morning.

The team would first interact with representatives of political parties and their candidates and later might also visit the areas from where complaints of rigging were received.
— UNI

New Delhi, October 16
Hyderabad based management institute, the ICFAI has announced its decision to set up a management university in Himachal Pradesh.

The announcement was made here today by the state Education Minister, Ms Asha Kumari. She said the institute, which is among the top ten management institutes in the country, would set up its campus at a suitable location between Solan and Shimla.

Ms Kumari said the state government would bring in a suitable legislation to facilitate the establishment of the university in the next session of the Assembly .

New Delhi, October 16
The return of senior National Democratic Front of Bodoland
(NDFB) leader Bijoy Boro to Guwahati in the last week of July 2004 is another body blow to the
NDFB, according to diplomatic sources here.

Though the circumstances of the appearance of Bijoy Boro in Guwahati are still unclear with the police being tight-lipped on the issue, the incident is being seen as a major development on the insurgency front in Assam.

Disillusionment with the struggle and particularly the leadership of Ranjan Daimary led to the arrest or surrender of senior leaders like Gobinda
Basumatary, general secretary, Dhiren Boro, vice-chairman, and Nileshwar
Basumatary, finance secretary.

With the fate of another senior leader, publicity secretary B. Erakdao unknown, the sudden appearance of Ranjan Daimary's chief assistant and NDFB arms procurer Bijoy Boro and Benu Boro in Guwahati indicates that the NDFB leaders are abandoning the sinking ship one by one.

Operation All Clear, launched by the Royal Bhutanese Army in December 2003 particularly hit the NDFB with the outfit suffering the maximum loss from the operations. Its casualties and loss of weapons were highest among the three insurgent groups in Bhutan. It also suffered further losses with surrender of cadres continuing even after the operation.

In fact, both security agencies and surrendered NDFB members say that the outfit has as of today become moribund and almost non-existent.

However, security circles are still not prepared to completely relax on the NDFB front. This is because the NDFB today is virtually a Bangladesh- based organisation.

The NDFB's remaining armed strength of 200 cadres is entirely based in Bangladesh. Boyalcharri in Khagrachari district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is the major base of the group with its only intact formation, "3rd Battalion", being headquartered in
Boyalcharri.

The group has also built joint facilities with ULFA in the Mymensingh and Rangpur adjoining the Garo hills. These facilities in northern Bangladesh are serving as corridors for the transit of NDFB cadres from its base in Khagrachari district into Assam.

This is reflected in the increasing trend of extortion by NDFB cadres from businessmen based in Meghalaya.

Bangladesh is today home not only to NDFB cadres but also a refuge for the remaining members of the NDFB leadership. The past two years have been a disaster for the group in terms of loss of leaders.

Today, only a handful of senior leaders like
Susranga, "army chief", Dinthilang, "deputy army chief," and "major" Rava
Gothal, "3rd Battalion commander", cluster around Ranjan Daimary in Bangladesh. Two houses in Dhaka and the major base in Khagrachari provide safe havens for this remaining group of NDFB leaders.

Despite such setbacks, Daimary has made no move towards initiating a dialogue with the Government of India, even though the government offer remains open. His optimism in holding out appears to stem from the support he continues to get from ULFA and his confidence that Bangladesh will provide an undisturbed secure base in the near future.

Though ULFA is firm in its support to the NDFB remnants in Bangladesh and can provide necessary logistic support to the group with its better networking in Bangladesh, it is extremely doubtful as to how long Daimary can hold out in the face of almost total Bodo support for the Bodo Territorial Council
(BTC).

Diplomatic sources said with the elimination of Bhutan as a base for insurgents and signs that Myanmar is seriously considering joint or coordinated operations with India against Indian insurgents, Bangladesh would face isolation as the only regional harbourer of insurgent elements.

Given the heightened concerns worldwide over terrorism and the ongoing "war on terrorism", Bangladesh would find it more and more difficult to hide behind fig leaves. With regional cooperation under the Bay of Bengal initiative
(BIMSTEC) gathering momentum, Bangladesh has to seriously weigh the economic benefits of trade against the short-term benefits of harbouring insurgents indulging in terrorist acts against a friendly country.

Kolkata, October 16
While the police and the para-military forces jointly launched a massive combing operation in the extremists-infested Lalghar area, in west Midnapore, following the Friday's killing of EFR personnel there, the PWG and MCC today shifted their operation to the distance Jhargram forest by blowing up the Forest Ranger’s Office with landmines.

However, neither the Ranger nor any other office staff was present there when the extremists raided the office. So far, none was arrested in connection with the Lalghar incident and today's attack on the Ranger's Office. However, 25 persons were brought to the thana for interrogation but were later released.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, turned down the idea of negotiating with the extremists as suggested by a section in the party leadership including Mr Jyoti Basu and some senior leaders of the CPI, RSP and FB, the major front partners.

BRIEFLY

1 killed, 18 kids injured in blast
JALPAIGURI: A balloon vendor was killed and 18 children were injured when the gas cylinder exploded at Jaigaon on Friday, police sources said. The vendor, identified as Abul Sheikh, was filling balloons to supply to a local school and the children had gathered around him. Sheikh died on the spot while most of the children suffered eye injuries. Following the incident, DSP Ajay Nand has ordered a routine check up of licences of balloon vendors in the district.
— UNI

Monkey lifts judge’s phone
MADURAI: Monkey menace in the district court premises in Tiruchirappalli was so much that a curious monkey entered the chamber of a Sub-Judge and walked away with his cell phone and pen here on Friday. After all efforts failed to please the monkey to retrieve the articles, a smart advocate dialled the cell number which vibrated driving the panicky monkey to abandon it in a dustbin, however, the pen was retained by the monkey.
— PTI

RJD leader in judicial custody
PATNA: Former Bihar Minister and RJD MLA Mohammed Iliyas Hussain was on Saturday remanded to judicial custody by designated CBI Judge M. Sahu after he surrendered to him in connection with a case relating to the multi-crore bitumen scam. The leader would be lodged at the high-security Beur Jail till October 30.
— PTI